Sly’s pick: 18 wines that celebrate Adelaide Hills’ diversity
In April 2021, David Sly tasted 176 wines for a special Adelaide Hills report for Decanter. Here we show 18 of the highest-scoring wines with UK availability, but to find 158 more wines, including other higher-scoring producers such as Gentle Folk, go to decanter.com/premium for Sly’s series of articles (by grape variety)
1 Murdoch Hill, The Rocket Chardonnay 2020 98
£49 Pip of Manor Farm
It’s lean, sprightly and immediately delicious. The racy front palate has fresh lemon zing and a smart savoury drawstring around the waist. Complexity unfurls as flavours gently roll without ever intruding on the lightness and bounce of the palate. It’s cleverly understated, yet highly sophisticated; a lively dancer that’s great fun to be with. Drink 2021-2026 Alcohol 13.5%
2 Tapanappa Wines, Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, Piccadilly Valley 2019 98
£43.31 Available via UK agent Mentzendorff
The whiff of struck flint declares that this is serious. Richness and purity captured in a pristine vessel, defining the beauty of sturdy Chardonnay expression. It’s a string section in full flight, playing long, sustained notes in the lovely weave of lemon pith and crisp green apple. It also has stubborn persistence, hanging on to rich, clean flavours. Bravo!
Drink 2021-2031 Alc 13.9%
Sidewood Estate, Mappinga Chardonnay 2018 96
£19.95 Davy’s
Smooth, elegant and sophisticated. There’s lovely evenness through a flavour profile defined by fragile white peach, a lick of mandarin and the softest lemon. Oak is almost hidden, allowing the gentle voices of the fruit to do all the talking, right through to a seductive whisper at the close.
Drink 2021-2031 Alc 12%
BK Wines, Swaby Chardonnay, Piccadilly Valley 2020 95
£30 (2018) Bunch Wine Bar
Lurking menace in the colour and while initially shy in aroma, it displays a brilliant burst of perfume once it’s had a chance to open. Sunny grapefruit acidity adds pucker to the mid-palate of rich lemon curd and nutty tones. Moreish; makes you want to return for more. Drink 2021-2026 Alc 12.5%
The Other Wine Co, Pinot Gris 2020 95
£19-£22.60 (2017) Alexander Hadleigh, Christopher Keiller, Oz Wines, Q Wines, Specialist Cellars, The Fine Wine Co
Australia has been clumsy with many interpretations of Pinot Gris, but this shows correct style, with a faint rosy blush and a pronounced profile. You can smell the richness, with a film of lanolin fattiness over dazzling fresh white nectarine. It’s muscular in its textural mid-palate wrestle, with tight fruit flavours that pitch and roll with just a hint of smouldering oak at the fringes. Drink 2021-2025 Alc 13%
3 Hahndorf Hill, Gru Gruner Veltliner 2020 94
£21.95 (2016) Pull the Cork
Light, bright citrus tones shape the nose, with lemon blossom and mandarin peel. Then it’s long, slender and elegant on the palate, like a flowing chiffon gown, with a line of peach flesh running through the citrus curd, catching the light until it glides into a tingling finish on a lengthy train of acidity and shimmering quartz minerality.
Drink 2021-2025 Alc 12.5%
Lobethal Road, Roussanne 2020 94
£20.11-£24.99 (2016) Connolly’s, The Wine Reserve
A rarity in this region, though the seductive qualities of this lean Roussanne beg the question why more white Rhône grapes aren’t planted in the Adelaide Hills. Slender and fresh on the palate, the playful, gentle tug between grapefruit and honey keeps the flavours lingering, carried on a firm but never bossy spine of citric acidity. Sublime. Drink 2021-2028 Alc 12.5%
Penfolds, Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2019 94
£79 Berry Bros & Rudd, Frazier’s, Harvey Nichols This is a redefined style: French oak is now far less obvious, and a pungent struckmatch note is now less pronounced. The result is altogether more alluring, allowing the rich fruit to speak more clearly. Textures slide through many levels, as flavours roll from a sharp lemon kiss at the front, through ripe white peach, to a lick of honey at the end. Drink 2021-2031 Alc 13%
The Lane, Gathering Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 2019 94
£21.75 (2018) The Wine List
Extra palate weight from a dash of Semillon makes flavours fill the mouth with a rich, textural roll through the broad mid-palate, yet this wine remains supple. It’s big-bodied but with great full flavour and an even length, until a tart edge bites in the tail.
Drink 2021-2025 Alc 13%
4 Shaw & Smith, Shiraz 2019 98
£25.25-£31.99 (2018) Banstead Vintners, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Exel, Fine Wines of Mayfield, The Wine Reserve
Confident, cool, arresting. Slender, stalky cherry and a smear of blackcurrant spiked with crushed peppercorns. No sunny smiles here – this is deadly serious. Lean, fine and taut like a violin string, it marks a big stride ahead from previous vintages. Cool-climate Shiraz that signals a new age of measured sophistication. Drink 2021-2035 Alc 13.5%
5 Bird In Hand, Syrah 2018 97
£18.45-£19.99 Banstead Vintners, Cellar Selected, Frontier Fine Wines
Elegant perfumes of blueberry shortcake, wild sage and a whiff of liquorice. The flavours are equally seductive: firm black fruits and sharp cherry, laced in strands of leather and tobacco. Whole-bunch ferment and wild-yeast influence is captured in the right measure, showing fine balance of winemaker intervention and vineyard expression. Drink 2021-2035 Alc 14%
Henschke, Giles Pinot Noir, Lenswood 2019 96
£34.99 (2018) AG Wines, Ake & Humphris, Australian Wines Online, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Christopher Keiller, Exel, Harvey Nichols, Oz Wines, Philglas, & Swiggot, The Fine Wine Co, VinQuinn, Vinvm, Wineye
A whiff of rich earth rises above an autumnal cherry orchard. There’s power and drive here without being overt or overweight, the Lenswood site speaking in a deliberate baritone, holding the notes
long and clear. Everything is in careful balance here, with extraordinary length. This site was swept by bushfire in early 2020, although the scorched vines will produce fruit again. So this vintage is the last offering from these vines showing 30-year maturity. The 2019 vintage is due to arrive in the UK in August, via agent Liberty Wines. Drink 2021-2030 Alc 13.5%
6 Charlotte Dalton, Beyond the Horizon Shiraz 2017 95
£31.50 (2016) Bottle Apostle
Lean, dark and bewitching, showing slinky notes of blackberry hedgerow, a puff of gunsmoke and mossy earth on a dewy autumn morning. Yet as the palate unfurls, it’s surprisingly austere, then tight and polite at the finish. It’s serious, like a quiet late-night conversation. Drink 2021-2035 Alc 13.5% £16 (2014) Cotswold Wine Imports
Ashton Hills Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Piccadilly Valley 2020 94
£29.50-£30.99 (2016) Cambridge Wine Merchants, Selfridges, Stone Vine & Sun, The Oxford Wine Co
A vivacious personality with strong, deliberate variants in cherry flavour and texture – a lively, bossy string quartet in full flight. Acid drives the back-palate to a shrill, high final note that persists. Quite an opus for an immediately approachable and likeable wine. Drink 2021-2028 Alc 13.5%
Paracombe, The Reuben 2015 93
The Bordeaux-variety blend is superbly smooth, with 32% Merlot doing most of the work to drive a rich silky palate. Cabernet Sauvignon (37%) brings firm tannic grip and a rich perfume, aided by violet notes from Cabernet Franc (23%), black fruit grunt from Malbec, and Shiraz adding peppery spice and red plum brightness. A cohesive, satisfying wine, at an extremely modest price. Drink 2021-2035 Alc 14.4%
d’Arenberg, The Feral Fox Pinot Noir 2019 92
£17.60-£21.50 (2018) Australian Wines Online, Carruthers & Kent, Chiltern Wines, Exel, ND John, The Fine Wine Co , The Great Wine Co, Vinvm, Wine Direct, Wine Republic
Sharp edges and angular on both aromas and palate, with tangy blackberry and bramble fruit that is a bit lean and mean at present – you could say the volume is turned up, rather than being loud. The wine is lacking a little nuance, and it delivers a powerful note of tartness on the warm finish, but perhaps it just needs a little time.
Drink 2021-2028 Alc 13.5%
Grosset, Pinot Noir, Piccadilly Valley 2019 92
£52.99 Specialist Cellars
From a south-facing, single-vineyard site. Clean, lean, bright and pristine – almost crystalline clarity and an easy palate roll. Finishes with a tidy grip. Lovely shades of added colour to the cherry fruit, with the slightest hint of liquorice and fennel herbal noets. The freshness holds, driven on a long acid line through the medium-bodied palate. Drink 2021-2028 Alc 14%
Heirloom Vineyards, Pinot Noir 2019 92
£18.99 No2 Pound St, Oz Wines, The Wine Reserve, Tim Syrad Wines
Funky, savoury aromas of mushroomy forest floor over rich black and red cherry fruit. The svelte, elegant palate opens to pretty, swirling light red fruit flavours of cherry, soft plum and tart cranberry, ending with a gentle dusting of dry talc. Drink 2021-2028 Alc 13.5% D